Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) mentioned Sunday that concentrating on others apart from convicted criminals for deportation means “government has failed us.”
“You know, if we’re going after the guy that’s picking tomatoes or the nurse at the local hospital and we’re not going after the convicted criminal, then our government has failed us,” Gonzales instructed ABC Information’s Martha Raddatz on “This Week.”
President-elect Trump, a member of Gonzales’s celebration, pushed a mass deportation plan all through his bid for the presidency this yr. He promoted a “Day 1 agenda” principally centered on border and immigration crackdowns. At many rallies, the president-elect mentioned, “On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.”
“You know, our country was built on those fleeing persecution, and it would be, it would be just absolutely terrible if we don’t protect those that are doing it the right way,” Gonzales mentioned. “Legal immigration should never be mixed with these hardened criminals.”
Final week, in response to a query from journalist Cecilia Vega on CBS’s “60 Minutes” about the potential of going ahead with “mass deportation without separating families,” Tom Homan, Trump’s choose for “border czar” in his upcoming administration mentioned “there is” and that “Families can be deported together.”
Homan later mentioned in an interview this month that “U.S. citizens” and “legal immigrants are perfectly safe, for God’s sakes.”
Trump has mentioned that mass deportations will likely be geared toward individuals within the U.S. illegally, mainly these with a felony report.
“If the message is ‘We’re here to deport your abuelita,’ that’s not gonna work well,” Gonzales mentioned Sunday, utilizing the Spanish phrase for grandmother.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition staff for remark.
